Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other car brands in Detroit, Michigan, from 1909 to 1954. In 1954, Hudson joined the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to form American Motors (AMC). The name Hudson continued through the 1957 model, after which it was discontinued.
Video Hudson Motor Car Company
Company strategy
The name "Hudson" comes from Joseph L. Hudson, a Detroit department store businessman and founder of Hudson's department store, which provides the necessary capital and gives the company permission to be named after him. A total of eight Detroit businessmen formed the company on February 20, 1909, to produce cars that would sell for less than US $ 1,000 (equivalent to about $ 27,237 in today's funds).
One of the "car men" heads and managers of the company is Roy D. Chapin, Sr., a young executive who once worked with Ransom E. Olds. (Chaplin's son, Roy Jr., would later become president of Hudson-Nash, American Motors Corp. in the 1960s). The company quickly started production, with the first car driven from a small factory in Detroit on July 3, 1909 on Mack Avenue and Beaufait Street in Detroit, which occupies an old Aerocar factory.
The new "Twenty" Hudson is one of the first cheap cars on the American market and very successful with more than 4,000 sold in the first year. 4,508 units made in 1910 were the best first year production in the history of the automotive industry and put the newly formed company in the 17th rank of the industry, "a remarkable achievement at a time" as there are hundreds of brands that are marketed.
Successful sales volume requires a larger plant. The new facility is built on 22 hectares of land on Jefferson Avenue and Conner Avenue in the fairview section of Detroit which is diagonally opposite the Chalmers Automobile plant. The land is a former farm of D. J. Campau. Until the late 1920s, the body for Hudson cars was built by Biddle & amp; Smart. On July 1, 1926, Hudson's new $ 10 million body factory was completed in which the automaker now can build a sealed body of all steel for both Hudson and Essex models. It was designed by renowned industrial architect Albert Kahn with 223,500 square feet and opened on 29 October 1910. Production in 1911 increased to 6,486. For 1914 Hudsons for the American market now left hand drive.
The company has a number of firsts for the automotive industry; this included double brakes, the use of oil-pressure dashboards and warning lights generators, and the first balanced crankshaft, which enabled the Hudson straight-six engine, dubbed the "Super Six" (1916), to work at higher rotational speeds while remaining seamless, more power for its size than a lower-speed engine. Super Six was the first machine built by Hudson, before Hudson had developed a machine design and then made it manufactured by Continental Motors Company. Most Hudsons up to 1957 had straight-6 machines. The dual brake system uses a secondary mechanical emergency brake system, which activates the rear brake when the pedal runs outside the normal range of the main system; Mechanical parking brake is also used. Hudson transmission also uses an oil bath and a cork clutch mechanism that proves durable because it is smooth.
At its peak in 1929, Hudson and Essex produced a combined 300,000 cars in a year, including contributions from other Hudson factories in Belgium and the United Kingdom; a factory was built in 1925 at Brentford in London. Hudson was the third largest US automaker that year, after Ford Motor Company and Chevrolet.
Maps Hudson Motor Car Company
Essex and Terraplane
In 1919, Hudson introduced the Essex brand car line; the line initially for budget-minded buyers, designed to compete with Ford and Chevrolet, compared to the more sophisticated Hudson line. Essex found great success by offering one of the first affordable sedans, and the combined sales of Hudson and Essex moved from seventh in the US to third in 1925.
In 1932, Hudson began removing his Essex signboard for the modern Terraplane brand name. The new line was launched on July 21, 1932, with a promotional baptism by Amelia Earhart. For 1932 and 1933, the cars that were fixed were named Essex-Terraplane; from 1934 as Terraplane, until 1938 when Terraplane was renamed Hudson 112. Hudson also began assembling cars in Canada, contracting Canada Top and Body to build cars in Tilbury, Ontario, their factory. In Britain the Terraplanes built at the Brentford plant was still advertised in 1938.
The optional accessories on some of the Hudson and Terraplane 1935-1938 models are electrically installed pre-selector gears in the steering column and an electro-mechanical shift system, known as "Electric Hand", manufactured by Bendix Corporation. It replaces the shift lever mounted on the floor, but requires conventional clutch action. Cars equipped with Electric Hand also carry a conventional shift lever in a clip under the dashboard, which can be pulled out and used when Electric Hand never fails. Hudson is also renowned for offering an optional vacuum-powered auto clutch, starting in the early 1930s.
Hudson Eight
For the 1930s model Hudson debuted a new inline flathead eight-cylinder engine with block and cast Crankcase as a unit and was fitted with two cylinder heads. A 2.75 inch bore and 4.5 inch stunning displaced 218.8 cubic inches develop 80 HP at 3,600 RPM with a standard ratio of 5.78: 1 Compression. 5 Main bearings Crankshaft has 8 integral counterweight, an industry first, and also uses Lanchester vibration damper. Four rubber blocks are used at engine mount points. Oil pump without valve improves Hudson splash lubrication system.
The new Eights is the only machine that offers in the Hudson line, replacing the Super Six, which is soldiered inside the Essex model.
1936-1942
In 1936, Hudson overhauled his cars, introducing "radial safety"/"rhythmic" suspension suspension that hung the front axle directly from two steel bars, as well as from the leaf springs. Doing this allows the use of longer and softer leaf springs ("rhythmic rides"), and prevents shocks and braking from moving the car off the track. The 1936 Hudsons are also much larger inside than the competitive car - Hudson claims a 145-cubic-foot interior (4.1 m 3 ), comparing it to 121 cubic feet (3.4 m 3 ) in "the other biggest popular car." (According to US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) measurements, the large LBL Chrysler reaches only 126 cubic feet or 3.6 cubic meters.With a prominent luggage lid, Hudsons can hold 21 cubic feet (0.59 m 3 ) baggage (LHS, 19 cubic feet or 0.54 cubic meters), although that might be an optimistic measure.1936 engines were very strong for the time, from 93 to 124 horsepower (69 to 92 kilowatts; 94 to 126 horsepower).
The 1939 model joins the other American cars in the use of gear levers mounted on the column. This front-seat passenger space was freed and remained industry standard through the 1960s, when the "bucket seats" came into vogue. Hudson became the first car manufacturer to use foam rubber in his seat. The Hudson Terraplane was dropped. For the 1940s Hudson introduced an independent coil spring spring suspension, aircraft-style shock absorbers mounted inside the front springs and the true center-point steering on all of its models, a major advance in performance among cars in this price range. Despite all these changes, Hudson's sales to 1940 were lower than in 1939 and the company lost money again. The emergence of a military contract the following year brought help.
The 1941 Hudsons retained the front-end styling of the 1940 model but the corpses were new with 5.5 inches added to the length they gave more leg room. The new 3 speed manual synchronization transmission is quieter with all helical gears. Wheelbase increased by 3 inches, with offerings 116, 121 and 128 inches, and the altitude decreased with a flat roof. Convertibles now have power that is operated upon. The Big Boy truck now uses a 128-inch wheelbase. In 1942 in response to the Hydramatic automatic transmission of General Motors, Hudson introduced the "Drive-Master" system. Drive-Master is a more sophisticated combination of concepts used in Electric Hand and automatic clutch. With a touch of a button, Drive-Master offers the driver a choice of three modes of operation: normal, manually shifting and gripping; manual shift with automatic clutch; and automatic shift with automatic clutch. All this is done by the big and complicated mechanisms that lie under the hood. They work well, and in auto mode fully function as a good semi-automatic transmission. When coupled with automatic overdrive, Drive-Master is known as Super-Matic. Reengineering the back of the frame to use a lower spring reduces the car's height by 1.5 inches. Sheet metal "spats" at the bottom of the body is now covering the board that is running and the new wider front and back fenders are new to accommodate this.
Female designer
As the role of women increases in car purchase decisions, automakers begin to hire female designers. Hudson, wanted a women's perspective on automotive design, hired Elizabeth Ann Thatcher, who later became Betty Thatcher Oros, in 1939. Graduate of the Cleveland Art School (now the Cleveland Institute of Art) with Industrial Design majors, she became the first female automotive designer in America. His contributions to the 1941 Hudson included exterior trim with side lighting, interior instrument panel, interior and interior trim fabrics. He was designed for Hudson from 1939 to 1941, leaving the company when he married Joe Oros, then a designer for Cadillac. He later became head of the design team at Ford who created the Mustang.
World War II
As directed by the Federal government, Hudson stopped production of cars from 1942 to 1945 to produce materials during World War II, including aircraft parts and naval engines, and anti-aircraft weapons. The Hudson "Invader" engine powered many of the landers used on the D-Day invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944.
During World War II, Hudson also had an aircraft division that produced ailerons for one major east-plane maker. The factory is capable of producing large-scale wings and ailerons as well as other aircraft parts. On May 22, 1941, Hudson was given a contract for Oerlikon's 20 mm cannon with Jefferson Avenue Plant, on Jefferson Avenue and Connor Avenue, responsible for converting the original Swiss image to American production standards. The company produced 33,201 Oerlikon for the US Navy with original mechanisms continuously used without major changes and with complete inter-changeability from part to end of war. Hudson also produces millions of weapons and other vehicle parts for war effort. Hudson was ranked 83rd among US companies in the contract value of World War II military production.
1946-1954
Production resumed after the war and included pickup truck measuring 4 inches (3.251 mm) thick as 128 inches (3,251 mm).
In 1948, the company launched their "step-down" agency, which lasted through the model year of 1954. The term step-down refers to the Hudson placement of the passenger compartment inside the perimeter of the frame; rider down to the floor surrounded by the perimeter of the car frame. The result is not only safer cars, and greater passenger comfort as well, but, through a lower center of gravity, a car that handles it well. In time almost all US producers will accept it as a means of body building. The automotive writer Richard Langworth describes the step-down model as the largest autos of the era in articles for Consumer Guides and Collectible Automobile.
For the 1951 model, the 6-cylinder engine gets new blocks with thicker walls and other improvements to increase Horsepower by nearly 18% and 28.5% of torque makes Hudson a hotter player again. Hydramatic 4-speed automatic transmission supplied by GM is now optional in Hornets and Commodore Custom 6s and 8s.
The strong, lightweight Hudson body, combined with the high-tier six-cylinder engine engine technology, made the 1951-54 Hornet as a champion of racing cars, dominating NASCAR in 1951, 1952, 1953, and 1954.
Herb Thomas won 1951 and 1954 Southern 500s and Dick Rathmann won in 1952. Some NASCAR records made by Hudson in the 1950s ( for example. successive wins in a racing season) still survive to this day. Hudson's car also did very well in a race approved by the AAA Contest Board from 1952 to 1954 with Marshall Teague winning the AAA Car Championship of 1952 and Frank Mundy in 1953. Often Hudsons completed most of the top positions in the race. Later, these cars met with some success in drag races, where their high power-to-weight ratio worked to their advantage. Hudsons enjoyed good success in NHRA trials and local ground track events.
As the postwar market shifted from seller to buyer market, smaller US producers, like Hudson and Nash, found it increasingly difficult to compete with the Big Three (Ford, GM, and Chrysler) during the 1950s. The sales war between Ford and General Motors made during 1953 and 1954 has left a small business for the much smaller "independent" car makers who are trying to keep up with the standard models offered by the domestic Big Three. The Big Three is capable of generating constant development and styling changes, so their cars look fresh every year, while smaller manufacturers can only change gradually. Hudson's innovative, step-down body unit construction, while sturdy and innovative, also makes restyling difficult and costly. Although Hudsons dominated racing during this period, their achievements did little to influence the showroom's traffic. Sales dropped every year from 1951 to 1954 and only the Korean War military contract made the company float. On March 20, 1954, Hudson Motor Car Company reported a loss of $ 10,411,060 in 1953 compared to a profit of $ 8,307,847 in 1952. After the compact car line of high-price Jet companies failed to capture buyers in the second year in a row, the Hudson acquired by Nash-Kelvinator (maker of Nash and Rambler) cars in 1954.
1954-1957
On May 1, 1954, Hudson joined the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to become American Motors. The Hudson plant, located in Detroit, Michigan, was converted into a military contract production at the end of model year, and the remaining three years of Hudson production took place in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
For 1955, both Hudson and Nash's senior models were built on a common car platform using styling themes by Pinin Farina, Edmund E. Anderson, and Frank Spring. The production of general body shells for competing automobile manufacturing is a manufacturing technique that has been used by the Big Three for decades. Although in 1955 Hudson used Nash's inner shell, the car used a front cowl designed by Spring and the Hudson team to be placed on the 1954 Step-Down platform. The 1955 model also uses the Hudson dashboard, triple safe brakes and Nash Weather Eye heater with Harrison Radiator Corporation-provides Freon/low-cost air conditioner compressors.
Hudson dealers also sell models of Rambler and Metropolitan under the Hudson brand. When sold by Hudson dealers, both cars are identified as Hudson vehicles through hood emblems and horn buttons. Hudson Ramblers also received the "H" symbol on the fuel filler cap (and, in 1956, also on the dop). For 1957, Rambler and Metropolitan became their own rights, and were no longer identified as Hudson or Nash.
For 1956, the senior Hudsons design was given to designer Richard Arbib, who produced the V-Line styling motif, a combination of "V" motifs that featured the Hudson triangle company logo. Sales fell below the 1955 mark. For 1957, Hudson dropped a shorter-wheelbase Tawon line, selling only Custom and Super Hornets, which featured derived profiles and slightly updated styles.
With a wider front track from Nash used, Hudson is a better handling car, and is powered by 308 cuÃ, famous in (5.0Ã, L) Hornet Six with an optional high-cylinder head cylinder and dual carburetor manifold ("Twin- H Power "); Twin H will disappear by the end of model year 1956.
The Wasp uses a 202F engine on a Jet-Jet (3.3Ã, L) L-head (up to 130 hp (97 kW)) and this model (in sedan version) is a top seller of Hudson. For 1955, for the first time Hudson offered the V8 engine, a machine designed and built with a capacity of 320 cc in a (5.2 L) engine with 208 hp (155 kW) power purchased by Hudson and Nash. All cars with Packard V8 also use Ultramatic Packard automatic transmission. as an option for $ 494 (equivalent to about $ 4,447); Nash 3-speed manual is also available for US $ 295.
End of line
Hudson last slid from the Kenosha assembly line on June 25, 1957. There was no ceremony, because at that time there was still hope to pass the name of Hudson and Nash into the 1958 model on the Rambler chassis as a deluxe, long-wheelbase senior model. The combined production volume of Nash and Hudson is not enough to justify all new designs and equipment, so the Rambler platform is expected to be adopted into a longer car. One major trade magazine said the rumors about the cessation were wrong and in 1958 Hudsons and Nash "would be great and smart". The styling photographs of the factory show the designs for the 1958 Hudson line (and Nash) based on Cartage 1954's long-wheelbase. The front-end prototype features separate Hudson and Nash styling themes.
AMC President George W. Romney came to the conclusion that the only way to compete with the "Big Three" (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) was to risk the future of AMC on the new small-sized car line. Both Hudson and Nash brand names have a positive market recognition because the Rambler is successful and their sales are lagging behind. Together with AMC chief engineer Meade Moore, Romney had completely wiped out the Nash and Hudson brands at the end of 1957. The decision to retire those brands came so quickly that the previews of Ambassador Rambler's 1958 report showed Nash and Hudson-badged versions. The Rambler brand was selected for further development and promotion while focusing exclusively on compact cars.
Finally, however, something close to Hudson's design was chosen for the 1958 Rambler Ambassador. Hudson brand enthusiasts will note the triangle grating guards and fender "rifle sights" such as 1957 and the 1958 Customs are exhausting rapidly using a Hudson-style 1957 front-line fender.
South Africa
Hudson cars are assembled from knock down knock down (CKD) devices in South Africa by Stanley Motors at Natalspruit (Gauteng).
Legacy
For the 1970 model, American Motors revived the "Wasp" model name for the new series compact car (AMC Hornet). AMC was later purchased by Chrysler, who at one time was deemed to re-introduce the Hornet name in the Dodge model line (See: Dodge Hornet).
The last Hudson dealer is Miller Motors in Ypsilanti, Michigan, now part of the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum.
The Hostetler Hudson Auto Museum in Shipshewana, Indiana has a restored Hudsons collection. Eldon Hostetler was an inventor who had Hudson as a teenager and then bought a Hudson car and restored it.
The recovered Hudson Dealership mark still occupies its original site on Highway 32 in Chico, California.
The 2006 film Disney/Pixar's Cars , featured a character named Doc Hudson, represented as the 1951 Hudson Hornet.
Model
References
- The Hudson Triangle (1911-1919) Hudson Motor Car, Volumes 1-13.
External links
- Hudsonclub.org: "Hudson Car Club"
- Hetclub.org: Hudson-Essex-Terraplane Club
- Hudsonmotorcar.org: Canadian Hudson Motorcar's website
- Lost Marques.com: Hudson
- Allpar.com: 1936 Hudson web page with details
- Baulch, Vivian M. (December 2005). "How J.L. Hudson changed the way we shop" (PDF) . The Hudson Hub . Retrieved February 19 2016 .
- NASCAR Legend "Hudson Racing"
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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